Hand luggage



u 1949- w. L. GOODMAN, JR 2,479,831

HAND LUGGAGE Filed Dec. 15, 1947 Patented Aug. 23, 1949 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE HAND LUGGAGE William L. Goodman, Jr., Highland Park, 111..as-

gagc, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois ApplicationDecember 15, 1947, Serial No. 791,699 3Claims. (Cl. 312-472) signer toPlait Lug The present invention relates to luggage and particularly tothe provision of luggage with new and improved garment hanger supportingstructure and has for its primary object the provision of supportingstructure enabling a greater number of garments, especially women'spadded shoulder type garments. to be packed in hand luggage.

Travelers are apt to want to pack too many garments in luggage notdesigned to carry as much as the travelers desire. As a result thegarments art apt to become wrinkled. To avoid wrinkling, others travelwith less clothing than they would like to take along.

The difiicultles attendant traveling with suificlent clothing andwithout excess luggage are increased in the case of women, who,ofttimes, have to pack dresses and other garments having paddedshoulders.

These diiilculties are minimized considerably by the present inventionwhich provides luggage with what may be termed twin hanger postsextending in parallel spaced relation from a side wall of the luggage.Dresses and the like are hung on the garment hangers and the hangers arealternately placed on the two posts, thereby to displace and effectivelydisalign and distribute the added bulk created by the padded shoulders.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved hand luggage garment hanger supporting structure comprising apair of generally parallel supporting posts. This construction not onlyenables more garments to be packed with no increased likelihood ofwrinkling, but the two posts can be made shorter than one post intendedto accommodate a like number of garments and they will not have toextend outside the luggage section in which they are mounted.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent during the ensuing description of an embodiment thereof, in thecourse of which reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of the inside of hand luggageincluding the hanger supporting structure of the present invention:

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the luggage, taken along the line 2-2 ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a reduced perspective view of the lusgage showing theplacement of garments on the hangers and of the hangers in the luggage.

Hand luggage constructed in accordance with the present inventionenables an increased 2 amount of padded shoulder type garments to bepacked. The invention is particularly adapted to women's hand luggagebecause of the number of women's dresses which are made with paddedshoulders.

A piece of women's hand luggage embodying the present invention and withdresses packed in it is shown in Fig. 3. The luggage is indicated as awhole by reference character it and it includes a pair of hingedlyconnected sections i2 and ll, of which the former includes a side wallIt and a top wall l8. Dresses 20 are hung upon hangers 22 supported inthe luggage in horizontally displaced relation so that the bulk createdby the padded shoulders 24 of the dresses may be efiectively disalignedand distributed. While but two dresses are shown, it is obvious that anincreased number of garments can be packed in the luggage withoutincreased tendency toward wrinkling by reason of the displacement.

The hanger supporting structure comprises what may be termed a twinhanger post" construction. It includes the posts 28' and 28 which aredisplaced laterally and extend inwardly from the side wall i8 of sectionII. The posts are generally parallel and extend perpendicularly from theinner surface of the side wall. They also have a length approximatelyequal to the depth of the section. The posts are secured to a supportingplate 30 secured to the downwardly extending end 32 of a generallyT-shaped mounting plate 34, the transverse portion 36 of which issecured in suitable manner to the underside of the top wall i8. Mountingplate 34 has a shape conforming to the shape of the interior of theluggage section and the post supporting plate 30 is located immediatelyadjacent the wall it.

In order to hold the garment hangers 22 in position, the posts are madepolygonal, preferably square, in section and the hangers are providedwith upwardly extending hanger plates 38 having square openings. Thehangers are also prevented from sliding of! the posts accidentally byspring pressed bail detents 40 disposed near the free ends of the posts.

The spacing of the posts 26 and 28 is such that one end of everyalternate hanger is near one end wall of the section. Use is thus madeof the entire interior of the luggage section.

It is believed that the advantages of the present invention are madeevident by the preceding detailed description. In use, the garments.such as women's dresses, are hung on the hangers 22. The hangers withthe dresses draped over them are then placed upon the posts 28 and 28,the hangers being hung alternately on the right and left posts todistribute the bulk created by the padded shoulders 24, as illustratedin Fig. 3. While but two hangers with dresses upon them have been shownplaced in the luggage illustrated in Fig. 3, additional hangersrwithdresses upon them can readily be placed upon the posts. For instance,the third and fifth dresses could be placed upon the post 28 and thefourth and sixth dresses could he placed upon the post 26.

In the illustrated construction, the posts are of a length readily toaccommodate three dresses apiece, so that six dresses can readily bepacked in the one section of luggage. This can be done, too, without theposts extending beyond the bottom or top walls of the luggage section.

Garments placed in the luggage are adaptedadditionally to be heldinplace and folded around a dress bar 2, illustrated in Fig. 2, where itmay be seen lying above a curtain 44. Inasmuch as these are conventionalelements of women's luggage, they have not been illustrated or describedin detail.

While but a single embodiment of the invention has been described indetail, it should be understood that the details thereof are notintended to be limitative of the invention, except as set forth in theaccompanying claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I 2. Hand luggage especiallyadapted for carrying padded shoulder type garments hung on garmenthangers including a luggage section having top, side and end walls, anda pair of longitudinally extending hanger supporting structurescomprising part of a structural unit mounted in said section near thetop wall, said structures being generally'perpendicular to the sidewall, of a length approximating the depth of the section andconstruction each slidablyto receive a plurality of garment hangers inlongitudinal spaced relation, and ofiset laterally a short distance suchthat when the garment hangers are placed thereon the ends of hangers onthe struc tures will be displaced relative to each other so that one endof each hanger on one supporting structure is approximately in the midregion of the adjacent 'half ofeach hanger on the other supportingstructure, thereby effectively to distribute the bulk of the-paddedshoulders.

' 3. Hand luggage especially adapted for carrying padded shoulder typegarments hung on garment hangers including a luggage section having top,side and end walls, and a pair of longitudinally extending hangersupporting structures mounted in said section near the top wall, saidstructures being generally perpendicular to the side wall, of a lengthand construction each slidably to receive a plurality of garment hangersin claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Hand luggage especially adapted for carry! ing padded shoulder typegarments hung on garment hangers including a luggage section havingopposed top and bottom walls, side and end walls, and a pair oflongitudinally extending hanger supporting structures fixedly supportedin said section upon and near one of said opposed walls, said structuresbeing generally perpendicular to the side wall, of a length andconstruction each slidably to receive a plurality of garment hangers inlongitudinal spaced relation, and offset laterally a short distancesubstantially less than half the total width of a hanger so that whenthe garment hangers are placed thereon the ends of hangers on thestructures will be displaced relative to each other, with one end of ahanger on one supporting structure nearer the adjacent end than to thecenter of a hanger on the other supporting structure, therebyefiectively to distribute the bulk of the padded shoulders.

Number longitudinal spaced relation, and offset laterally a smallfraction of the width of a hanger corresponding approximately to thewidth of shoulder padding so that when the garment hangers are placedthereon the ends of hangers on the structures will be displaced relativeto each other and effectively distribute the bulk of the paddedshoulders.

WILLIAM L. GOODMAN, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Shields Mar. 19, 1901 Salavsky Jan. 24,1933 Plotkin Sept. 2, 1941 Ritter June 9, 1942 Benson Apr. 15, 1947

